The Silver Moon
by Uzumaki-sama011
Summary: An incident leaves Naruto with his hands full with another moon goddess. She's, for the time, stuck being close to him or risks unpleasantries because he may have ...accidentally.. totally not his fault... went overboard when using his chakra to save her live.
1. (άλφα) - In Medias Res

**Naruto/PJ** FAQs **.**  
\- No, Naruto won't be the only Ninja around (yes, I don't care if you don't like it). Eventually, at least.  
\- When does this happen? It starts before Lightning Thief. No exact timestamp.  
\- But [ _insert him, her, it_ ] would never do something like that?! Why are you reading fanfiction?  
\- Other Pantheons included? Yes, just like Rick Riordan wrote it.

* * *

 **Story Fandom:** Naruto & Naruto Shippūden / Percy Jackson and the Olympians (AU)  
 **Story Title:** The Silver Moon  
 **Story Genre:** Adventure, Humor, Action, Fantasy, Romance  
 **Story Rating:** Rated M for Mature Content  
 **Story Ship/Pairing:** Uzumaki Naruto x Artemis  
 **Story Author:** Uzumaki-sama011  
 **Story Size** ( predicted): large _(100k+)  
_ _ **Story Theme Song:**_ _From Ashes to New - I Will Show you_

"Everything's the same, right? Let me fix that!" - Speech  
" **Rasengan (Spiraling Sphere)** " - Technique Name  
 _Ware annei chitsujo o nasu mono. / 'Words'_ \- Thoughts, Highlighted words

 **Summary:** _An incident between himself and Sasuke leaves Naruto's hands full with a goddess of all things. She's, for the time, stuck being close to him or risks unpleasantries because he may have ...accidentally.. totally not his fault... went overboard when using his chakra to save her live._

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 **Anime Law #13 - Law of Energetic Emission -** There is always an energy build up (commonly referred to as an energy "bulge") before Mecha or space craft weapons fire. Because of the explosive qualities of weapons, it is believed that this is related to the Law of Inherent Combustibility.

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 ** _The Silver Moon_**

 **Chapter One:** (άλφα) In Medias Res

 _"Stab the body and it heals, but injure the heart and the wound lasts a lifetime."_  
 _― Mineko Iwasaki_

~-~-~ ஜ۩۞۩ஜ ~-~-~

 _Our favorite, blond haired ninja was beginning to regret his acceptance of the accord his sensei proposed; for him to step in as the acting Hokage of the Hidden Leaf until a suitable replacement for the hat could be trained. It was supposed to be a short term thing really. Key words: 'supposed to'._

 _As things stood, Naruto has been stuck governing Konohagakure no Sato for over 20 years, oft left to drown in the never ending scourge that is paperwork by his evil secretary! He couldn't scare her, she knew him since they were kids. He couldn't fire her, she was too stubborn for that. And he couldn't actually be angry at her; she was far too soft-spoken for that to happen.  
_

 _The blond sighed, his fingers flying over the keyboard._

 _If he didn't know any better, Naruto would've sworn this was the devious man's plan all along; to keep him stuck in the office of Hokage till the end of time, too busy filling out forms and going over reports to find a replacement.  
_

 _As that line of thought manifested the blond Hokage slowly paused in writing his correspondence to Camp Olympia, requesting (read: pleading, praying and a bit more pleading) for him to call back the assigned ambassador, or better said, training delegate, Rock Lee._

 _Yeah right, there was no way he would call the challenge obsessed taijutsu master back._

 _He was happy to have him out of his hair, thank you very much..._

'I'll never forget your noble sacrifice, brat.' _Thought the blond deviously.  
_

 _Kakashi couldn't have... wouldn't have done something underhanded like that in revenge..._

 _...right?_

 _RIGHT?!_

 _Feeling his sense of dignity and accomplishment as a prankster plummet after realizing that yes, he'd been had by the Sixth Hokage, Naruto pretended not to notice the blond haired, blue eyed, whisker cheeked youth tip-toeing his way into his office. Said youth moved almost silently through his spacious office, ducking below the kage's desk before slowly peeking over it, face half-hidden behind Naruto's faxing machine._

 _The blond hid a smirk when he glanced into his son's curious eyes, shining with innocence._

 _It reminded him just why and what he was working here to create._

 _He switched his gaze back to his work before the youth could catch it and continued typing on his computer, sadistically denying that old horse and Percy's pleas as politely and insincerely as he could possibly phrase it._

 _He couldn't get back at Kakashi for putting him in this position; that man had long since died, but he sure as hell could take out his frustration on others._

 _Namely the cheeky and impudent brats that lived in that camp._

 _All in a days' work for the Prankster King of Konoha._

 _Grinning mischievously when his father didn't seem to notice him the little tic took a deep breath - totally breaking the silence of the room - and jumped into the air like a spring, shouting at the top of his longs._

 _"HI DAD! WHA'CHA DOIN'?!"_

 _Naruto, pretending to be surprised by his offspring wailed his arms around in a dramatic fashion as he tumbled backwards onto the carpeted floor._

 _His son started laughing like a small maniac, yelling out a triumphant, "YES! Gotcha!" while pumping his fist into the air. Naruto's lips quirked up from the floor of his office._

 _Without a wasted moment he pulled himself up along with his leather chair in one smooth movement, then he turned to face his son - who was sitting on his desk besides the see-through computer screen with his hands clenched before his face, trying to hide his giggles while looking up at him with childish glee._

 _The corner of Naruto's mouth twitched into a frown as he gazed at his progeny, he really did have work to do._

 _It was an actual wonder he got anything done with how hyperactive his children were._

 _He spoiled them too much. It ran in the family, apparently.  
_

 _"What do you want Minato? I'm working."_

 _At his tone the boy began shuffling around with his hands shyly in a very Hinata-like fashion, pointedly avoiding his father's gaze._

 _"Well, umm... I wanted to ask... ummm... can you, I mean, I wanted you to tell me how you and Mom got together dad..."_

 _The older blond who didn't look a day over 20 blinked in surprise._

 _What? That was an odd question to ask... he was pretty sure, at least._

 _Lack of any proper parental figure in his life still put Naruto in doubt if he was doing it right sometimes._

 _Odder still when you opened it with a heart attack, even if he was only pretending so he could indulge his kids and their craving for chaos and mayhem._

 _He looked between his work and his son._

 _The acting Hokage sighed internally as he put the computer to sleep._

 _Work could be done later, his family was more important._

 _Grabbing the 7 year old between the arms he ignored the boy's startled yelp as he put him on his lap._

 _Recognizing the gesture Minato leaned into his father's broad torso and looked up towards the face they shared. His father was smiling down at him. He returned the smile shyly and leaned deeper into the cozzy warmth his father put out._

 _"Why'd you want to hear that, it's not exactly a tale for kids."_

 _Yeah, seeing as it mostly consisted of them yelling at each other before passion erupted._

 _Definitely not for the ears of little kids._

 _The boy blushed, "I... uh well... I..."_

 _It was then that Naruto's youngest daughter, one of two, decided to intrude upon their moment as she walked into his office grinning like a hyena. Her timing was suspiciously impeccable. Sadly, because she did know the Sage Arts of the Toads, she could be completely invisible to any sensor. Even him.  
_

 _"That's because little Mina has a crush~!" she sing-songed chipperly before giggling at Minato's aghast face, "He's fallen heads over heels for one of the demigoddesses in the Alliance Academy."_

 _With the establishment of some relative form of peace between the 5 major nations of the shinobi continent steps had been quickly taken to forge stronger ties, an Academy exchange program being one of the first measures. In less than a decade this program had grown and evolved into a singular institution overseen but not governed by the 5 Kage, an institution that now trained shinobi not to fight against one another, but to defend each other. And when Naruto returned to the village with his wife and broke down the barrier that kept the Elemental Nations out of phase with the rest of Earth the many gods and goddesses of the outside world didn't waste time in ...copulating with the residents of shinobi villages._

 _"Liar! Don't listen to her dad, she's lying. I don't know what she's going on about!"_

 _"Sure you do, don't be shy. I know for a fact that you were going to give her a present for White Day." she said impishly, grinning as she assumed Onee-sama Casual Pose #12; casually leaning against one of the three bookcases in their father's office/study._

 _The boy spluttered, "I did not!"_

 _Naruto's daughter giggled again before she addressed her father, her grin never wavering, "It's one of Freya's. Her name's Jennie. She's going to be the Kunoichi of the Year if I'm not mistaken."_

 _"I've never heard of her!"_

 _"Mina and Jean sitting by a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G~" Without warning, Minato launched himself from his father's lap in an attempt to shut his sister up. She caught him mid-flight easily with just one hand but the boy's momentum was more than she expected and sent them both sprawling to the floor, miraculously not knocking down anything in the room._

 _This didn't stop the boy as they startled to grapple one another, rolling around like a bunch of pups._

 _It was no contests, his sister was a fully certified kunoichi while Minato had just started the Academy and she soon had him beneath her tender mercy. This meant that Minato now had to spend several minutes laughing uncontrollably while she tickled him. Through the relentless attack the little blond managed to somehow wiggle away before running to hide behind his father._

 _His sister stood up with a pout on her face (and a gleam in her eyes) while Minato glared at her as he caught his breath, huffing greedily. She pulled her tongue at him and the two started another yelling debate that seemed so common in the Uzumaki household that the villagers as well as the ANBU operators outside his office didn't even pay attention to their ruckus._

 _Naruto looked between his two bickering children with an amused look on his face._

 _Never in his younger years had he dreamed of attaining something like this._

 _For the longest time he'd expected to end up like Jiraiya. Old and unwanted, whoring his days away without anything resembling a family to come back to. That feeling intensified when his first love cheated on him. But he was glad things turned out the way they have for him._

 _He never would have met his wife had they not._

 _"Zoë, stop teasing your brother," he said faux-sternly, giving up on getting any work done with the two of them in his office before turning his attention to the youngest of the household, "And no girls for you Mister. None of you are getting hitched until I'm old, cranky and easily fooled. Unless they can fight me on even grounds that is." he told them with a sense of finality._

 _Zoë's face turned to one of horror, she'd never heard of that rule, "WHAT?! You can't! This is oppression!"_

 _Had she been any other teenager she would have told mom, but she actually read up on her Greek heritage. She knew the woman was a prude for a loooong time before she shacked up with their father which meant that getting her to understand her woes would be an exercise in futility._

 _"No, it's just me exercising my right as a father to scare the living daylights out of boys and girls who want to get into my daughters' pants. Or my son's. It's a family tradition." Naruto said dryly (ignoring her blush at the thought of doing... that, with other girls!) remembering the way Zeus's temper had exploded when he found out the blond managed to crack his little Moon Arrow's locked heart._

 _It took weeks for the combined efforts of the Cyclopes and Hephaestus to rebuild Olympus, "Kushina doesn't seem to mind it."_

 _"That's only because she a clone of mom! Both are upti-" the door to his office was once again pushed open as a sharp, frigid voice cut in the girl's sentence._

 _"We're what?"_

 _The middle child of the Uzumaki family froze before nervously turning around to see her older sister and mother standing by the entrance to her dad's office._

 _The Huntress' gaze was chilling as she narrowed her eyes, "Yes, do continue dear. I'd love to hear what my youngest daughter thinks of me from the bottom of her heart." Naruto looked at his wife from behind their daughter with a knowing smile. He could tell she was only teasing her. It made him grin knowing they all shared the same hobby (even if it took a while for Artemis to loosen up to that level)._

 _Messing with other people._

 _"...uh, Up...ity ladies of class?" she offered weakly, breathing a sigh of relief when her mom nodded in satisfaction before scurrying out of the room with Minato in tow, pulling him by his hand._

 _Artemis smirked as Kushina shook her head, smiling faintly._

 _She still got it._

~-~-~ ஜ۩۞۩ஜ ~-~-~

 _Present Day..._

Inside the recently rebuilt Hokage Tower, two of Konoha's most prominent shinobi were clashing gazes.

One of them was Hatake Kakashi, the Sixth Hokage.

Leader of Konohagakure no Sato and the man on who's shoulders its future now rested.

The other one was Uzumaki Naruto, the Toad Sage.

The single strongest shinobi in the world at this moment, the people's hero.

Kakashi looked at him flatly.

"Denied." the Sixth Hokage declared coolly as he leaned further into his chair, stapling his fingers together over his stomach. He cut a much more imposing and serious figure from what the blond was used to like that.

Said Uzumaki's mouth opened soundlessly for a moment, gaping like a fish before snapping shut.

"...What do you mean denied?!"

Kakashi sighed in exasperation and rubbed at his now uncovered left eye. His nerve endings were still rather sensitive there and Naruto's stubbornness wasn't helping.

He could feel a migraine coming on.

"Exactly what I said, Naruto-kun. You're needed here, in the village, not floundering around the Nations out there." the kage started to explain, glancing at some of his unfinished paperwork before turning his attention back to his cute-but-not-so-little genin, "Your promotion to jounin is coming up in a few weeks. You have to be present in the village for that. Konoha desperately needs all the support your name will bring from across the world."

Naruto's eyes narrowed slightly, "...What are you trying to pull, sensei?"

"I can't say I know what you're talking about."

"Don't bullshit me sensei!" Naruto demanded, "I know for a fact Ero-sennin got his traveling rights before the last war was even declared over. Given all the crap I went through to win this one, I feel like I deserve at least that much." the blond grumbled lowly, "It's not like I have any duties to perform in the village besides painting fences and walking dogs."

"Because the village needs to look strong, Naruto." Kakashi said evenly, "If another village attacked us at this moment we wouldn't have enough ninjas to keep the villagers safe." he explained, ignoring the boy's disrespect. He was quite used to it by now, "It's better for everyone that way."

Naruto scoffed, "Nobody is going to attack anyone sensei. We're in a time of peace. We fought for it, dammit! And Konoha was much worse off when Tsunade walked away. I asked around." Naruto pointed out, jabbing a finger in the kage's direction.

Kakashi blinked and then idly inclined his head in thought.

"True," he admitted after a sigh, "Nonetheless you're needed here, at home."

Naruto threw his arms up in the air. "Why? Like I said, we're at peace. The other villages suffered just as many losses as we have. I just want some time off to clear my head. C'mon sensei. Please." Naruto said as he started begging, his hands clasped in front of him as he bowed.

"I told you Naruto, denied," the silver haired kage stated after a few long moments of silence and then picked through some papers on his desk. "Konoha's coffers are practically dry and I need every able-bodied ninja doing his part to make revenue. The village still has a lot to rebuild, to pay for the resources, the food, plan the underground infrastructure, etc, etc. Building up all over again is going to take a lot of money."

Naruto was silent for a minute, a frown steadily growing more pronounced on his face.

"...Sasuke got them." he remarked.

"Sasuke is a… special case," Kakashi admitted with a grimace, ignoring how Naruto twitched at the mention of his rival. "Besides, he does missions while he's out in the field." The demon host's eyes flashed an irritated gold as his chakra responded to his emotions.

His gaze narrowed on the iron-haired man.

 _He's still treating the bastard with preference! Seriously, what the hell!?_

"And I can't?"

Kakashi remained silent, resignedly.

It was his hope to start grooming his sensei's son to take over his position soon, a month in and he was already feeling the strain of kageship.

He wanted to see the blond reach his dream as soon as humanly possible and with the right guidance that could be done within a few short years, probably before the blond even had any thoughts of starting a family. Besides, the blond has become something of a symbol to Konoha's populace. Taking it away now could deal a bad blow to Leaf villagers' morale, "Everyone's hard at work to get our lives back in order, they expect their hero to be there with them." Kakashi finally said after pondering on what to say.

"Well then, excuse me for feeling like I finally deserve a break. I'm this close to... you know what. Forget it. I'll just leave without your conse-"

This wasn't going the way Kakashi was hoping for.

"Naruto listen-"

"No! You listen!"

There was a moment of silence as their gazes crossed again.

Then Kakashi leaned back into his chair, allowing his student to talk.

"I'm listening."

Instead of saying anything the sun-kissed blond simply stared at him. He didn't say a word. It was beginning to put Kakashi off. It reminded him far too much of Minato-sensei's disappointed gazes when he was still a chunin than he would care to admit. Then, out of the blue, the young blond reached up behind his head - hesitating only for a short moment - and undid the knot that held his headband in place.

Kakashi's eyes widened as his student laid it down on his desk.

"I'm done being a ninja sensei." Naruto closed his eyes, muttering, "I quit. Give that to Konohamaru or something. I'm done with it."

The Hokage shot up from his seat.

"Naruto, wait a moment! You can't just-"

"What will you do to stop me, sensei?" Naruto asked as he opened his eyes again.

His sensei's answer was silence.

A mirthless smile appeared on his face.

"Thought so."

Kakashi watched as his student approached the door's of his office. Before he could step through them, he asked the one thing he thought might make the boy reconsider.

"What about your dream?"

Naruto stopped.

His fists clenched, embers of liquid gold slithering up his arms before dispersing harmlessly into the air.

"Sasuke took that away."

~-~-~ ஜ۩۞۩ஜ ~-~-~

Naruto, by known by most people as the Hero of the Hidden Leaf Village and the Saviour of Fourth Great Shinobi World War, worriedly bit his lower lip. He wondered, for a short moment if he should stop and turn around - _there's still time! Nobody would know, your friends wouldn't find out! -_ before, he shook his head and forced all of the niggling doubts over his next course of action out of his mind when he noticed his destination growing closer in the distance. Notorious throughout the Shinobi world for all the carnage and destruction that happened there, the barren stretch of dead land and lifeless rocks was aptly named Fields of Sacrifice, for all the shinobi of the Five Great Nations who lost their lives in a bid to stop Madara's crazy plans.

It was here that the final battle between the Allied Shinobi Forces and the Akatsuki was waged.

It was here that he and Kurama became partners and comrades.

It was here that the Ten Tails awoke and started rampaging.

And it was from here that Madara cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi, when his great-great-many times-great grandmother appeared out of the collective chaos and attempted to wring the world under her control.

She almost managed to, casually warping reality so she could suck them all dry of their chakra.

It was only through his and Sasuke's teamwork that they managed to stop the crazed deity who could do feats that made even Madara's bullshit-no-techniques seem pale in comparison.

Today, nearly a year since her defeat, the old goddess' energies still lingered over the area like a phantom plague, a fallout of primordial chakra. And somehow, that chakra was causing instabilities within the fabric of time and space, a subject Naruto knew a little more than your average shinobi, having fought too many foes who could control such jutsus. Getting access to his dad's journal and notes helped plenty at that. These rifts could tear people apart if they ventured too close, make their insides implode or become their outsides and all manner of grizzly means of losing ones' life.

The area was literally sealed off from the rest of the world with an S rank barrier jutsu while a team of Alliance 'experts' tried to catalog these instabilities in an attempt to close them.

It just happened to be his luck when a unit from Konoha spotted him and one shinobi with short brown hair and a small scar across his cheek, dressed in Konoha's standard uniform of blue and green overalls appeared in a Body Flicker in front of Naruto. In an instant, the man dropped into a kneeling position, head held low, one fist to the ground, other laid across his upright knee.

"Naruto-sama!" he yelled almost covenantly, causing the blond Sage to scratch his cheek with a small blush. He still wasn't used to the reverence people offered him nowadays after suffering years of contempt and neglect.

"Uh, hi...?" he offered an unsure wave, "Listen, no need to be kneeling before me or anything, we're all comrades here..." he trailed off, shutting his eyes as he mulled over his words.

Technically, they weren't comrades anymore. He was no longer a ninja in service of the village, nor did he have a headband.

Any act he took from hence forth as one could be considered rogue.

He shrugged as he opened his eyes and found the man was still kneeling in front of him, it was either that or pretend.

"I mean it, seriously. Get up."

"Hai!" And just like that the man was back on his feet, looking at Naruto with all the seriousness a shinobi could muster, "May I ask what are you doing here, sir?"

Naruto pursed his lips as he thought of what to say.

"Ahh... I need to check up on the..." Naruto searched for the right word, one hand waving through the air, "...rifts? Yeah, that's a good word for 'em. Y'know, the concentrations of chakra that litter this area. My Sagely senses are tingling the closer I am to them and I fear they might be acting up." Which was bullshit, unless he was actively channeling nature through his body he couldn't sense squat around him, but the man didn't need to know that. Naruto really hoped that the man would buy his white little lie. The blond hadn't really thought his plans through when he decided to take what amounted to a semi-permanent hiatus from the life of a shinobi.

The Konoha ninja frowned in displeasure, "Odd. We didn't receive any word from Hatake-sama..."

"Really?" Naruto feigned ignorance before scratching the back of his neck, smiling sheepishly "Oh well, it's just me so you shouldn't mind, right? I need to make sure nothing bad is happening, you understand. Kaguya was really slippery, wouldn't put it past her to leave a nasty surprise for us behind." he lectured, taking on a wise and sagely pose.

"We haven't detected any anomalies with the.. erm, rifts, sir..." the man fidgeted on the spot, uncertain.

Naruto smiled, "I don't want to sound arrogant but there's no better person for this job than me." he said, grinning confidently. The leaf ninja hesitated for a moment before signaling the lookouts to lower the barrier. It was the Hero of the Leaf... of the entire Ninja World! He had no reason to distrust the blond shinobi. Biding the man a cheerful goodbye as well as waving a hand towards the other guards when they looked at him in curiosity (one of them even asked for an autograph, something Naruto gave after a moment of reluctance) Naruto quickly made his way across the Fields of Sacrifice.

It took him over 10 minutes of walking to reach the peer edge of the disturbances, where they intensified to deadly levels.

Before this line, the worst that could happen is loosing your sense of direction as you walk through the area or having several hours feel like a few minutes, or reverse. Minor inconsistencies that were harmless in the end. Time space manipulation was tricky like that, but beyond it? Only someone with extremely potent chakra could hope to venture past it. Standing still, Naruto closed his eyes and immersed himself in the natural energies of the world, scanning for the densest and biggest concentration of Kaguya's chakra available.

When he was sure he found the right one he proceeded to walk towards it, letting go of most the nature energy, but keeping enough within him to grant him some extra protection.

As he stepped in front of the wound in fabric of space-time, Naruto focused, delving beyond the mind's eye that being a Sage granted him and into the realm of sensations only someone with a connection to the Sage of Six Paths could access. It took less than a minute to find what he was looking for, causing him to smile.

Just like during his fight with Kaguya when she was banishing them through multiple dimensions, Naruto could imagine a world beyond the Elemental Nations, cut off from the shinobi countries by some sort of barrier. Oddly enough, it seemed to be composed purely out of Kaguya's Yin chakra. What he saw both amazed and confused him, but it looked like as good place as any to vanish to.

 _There's no going back now._

Slowly, even hesitantly, the blond Uzumaki put his white zetsu cell arm inside the rift, his teeth gritting in pain as the raw chakra of the Rabbit Goddess enveloped him whole, attempting to flay his skin and shatter his bones. Naruto poured his chakra into the wound like a tidal wave, which made one last feeble attempt to kill Naruto as raw blasts of concussive chakra rippled out across the wasteland with an eldritch screech, cascading through the surrounding rifts, gouging large tranches in their path.

Naruto dug his feet into the ground and willed his chakra to catch the raving life-force before it could hit the barrier.

He didn't want to know how they would interact.

When he was certain he had the situation under control he stepped back from the - now stable - time-space portal and wiped the sweat from his brow.

Unfortunately, he seemed to have been followed by someone.

"Naruto! Stop!"

Naruto's entire being froze for a short second as the woman whose love he longed for so long landed a few feet behind him.

"Sakura..." the blond ninja muttered as his shoulders sagged, both physically and mentally overtaxed.

He had hoped to avoid this confrontation.

"What do you think you're doing Naruto?!" the pink haired kunoichi asked in shock, her voice distraught.

The Senjutsu: Byakugō no In seal he helped her develop from Tsunade's Ninpō Sōzō Saisei — Byakugō no Jutsu was pulsing to signal its activity on her forehead, artistic lines of chakra scriptures flowing around her face and down her cheeks, pulsing with magenta colored energy; the only thing keeping her alive in this caustic area, as her natural chakra was nowhere as potent as his own. Her expression, her voice... it was really convincing, making him wince.

He was clearly making her feel hurt, and it only made the whole mess a whole lot worse.

"What Kakashi-sensei said... it can't be true!" Sakura yelled, wishing this was all just a messy misunderstanding. Her perfect little family was falling apart all over again. She couldn't stand to see Naruto leave her too!

"What did he say?" he asked gruffly, hating himself all the more for it, "I retired. I left my headband in his office. I did what I promised, and more. What more do you guys want?" he demanded, "I just want to be left alone for a while! I can't even have that?!"

"But you can't leave just like that!" she took a step closer, ignoring the way his eyes narrowed - ignoring the sharp sting of Kaguya's chakra permeating the air around them - "You're Konoha's hero! You're going to become Hokage someday. We need you... I need you... you can't leave. Not like Sasuke, not like him..." she whispered, sniffling to keep the tears at bay. She hated that she was feeling this weak even after all she accomplished, after becoming as strong as her mentor. The most important people in her life, her most precious people, they always kept abandoning her. Sasuke always left and Naruto soon followed, always.

Naruto's fist clenched at the mention of _that_ man's name.

"I can. I'm only a genin remember. My duties consist of walking poodles and pulling weed." he said sarcastically, holding his temper in - the source of his anger and frustration being so close to him didn't help at all, and the fact he still loved her only added onto that, "I can leave the village any time I want. Konoha doesn't need me anymore, no matter what the Hokage claims. The world is at peace. I gave it to y'all." he explained, "I gave it my all... I just.. I just want a clean slate to start over with, y'know." the whiskered Uzumaki finished lamely, "I want to see the world for what it is, and I can't do that cooped up in Konoha."

"Why would you? You've finally reached your dreams. People are already asking when will you take over as the next Hokage..." Sakura said, shaking her head. "Please, tell me what's wrong. We can make it better, together. We're team 7." she finished with a smile.

Naruto shook his head softly.

"No, not anymore, we can't."

"But what about us then?! You were going to vanish without a word?! Even Sasuke didn't do that! We've been dating for almost a year!" Sakura yelled as her own temper started to flare. Why was Naruto being so unreasonable! Why was he so dead set on abandoning their village. Things seemed perfect for them, she even knew he was looking into proposal flowers and ceremonies from Ino!

"What us? There is no 'us'." he said without any visible emotions on his face, blank eyed, "You made that very clear."

Sakura was taken back for a moment, before her eyes narrowed on her boyfriend.

"What? Start making sense, Naruto, before I smack some sense into you." she growled, taking another step closer.

Naruto glared at her.

"What's there to say. You don't really think I can't sense the chakra growing in you." her eyes widened, "I may not be a sensor without entering Sage Mode but I'd recognize his chakra anywhere. If you really wanted that bastard in the end, should have simply said so instead of making me seem like a fool, pulling me by my nose for so long." Naruto laughed for a moment, it didn't sound pleasant, "I bet Ino must have been laughing on the inside, seeing me getting so worked up over someone who never wanted me." he growled, spitting out his words with equal measure of malice and venom before shaking his head and breathing out.

His emotions were slipping again, he really needed to find out why was he becoming so aggressive lately.

"Forget it. I should have known you'd never care for anyone but Sasuke. Go back to the village, become Lady Uchiha like you've always wanted, just don't expect me to save you anymore."

Tears began to stream down her face as her mouth started blurting out apologies, cries and pleas. Naruto didn't hear them, having had the portal expand around him.

Sakura ran towards him, hand outstretched as if to stop him but the chakra around them was like a thick sludge, keeping her at bay, like she was walking through dense mud.

Naruto took a step back, into the glowing rift, it was beginning to close. He looked up into her beautiful, shimmering eyes as she fought against the pressure of the chakra around him, pushing on like a bull. It would be the last time if he had anything to say about it.

He offered her one final smile, as a lone tear rolled down his cheek.

"Goodbye Sakura. It was nice while it lasted."

XXX END CHAPTER XXX

 **Last Edit:** [21.2.2017.]


	2. (άλφα) - A New Adventure

**Author's Note** : This is the second (and last) chapter of the Alpha arc, that is to say, **Prologue**. I've been juggling different scenes and variations of them, erasing it all several times because it came out crappy. The final product I'm happy with is rather short, but I hope it suffices. Next chapter the actual adventure begins, so the size will go back to normal.

* * *

 **RinboHengoku** \- New ideas cometh constantly. That is the problem :P.

 **nsanemaelstorm** \- Wanna beat on that? Challenge accepted, _mwahaha_.

 **Crimson Shikyo** \- ^^ I really can't write faster than I already do, not if you guys want any semblance of quality work. I attend university to become a Software Engineer, my interest span for actually putting pen to paper (finger to keyboard?) is kinda short and writing on my laptop just plain offsets me. I'm used to my 28" UHD screen at home. This shit is tiny! Also... I kinda bought all of the Witcher books... so... yeah... that's my excuse.

 **FateBurn** \- I know! Salad? Bolt? METAL? What the fuck? And everyone decided to have children at the same time (again...). It must be some sort of tradition in Konoha, the clan heads/heirs and future high ranking members of the hierarchy met up to plan their babymaking activities... that would actually be a hilarious crack fic. Hopefully someone writes it :P.

 **WATERDOG139:** _In Medias Res._ #GoogleIsYourFriend

 **Please Read my stuff** : Nah. The Elemental Nations already have their own gods, sorta... The Sage of Six Paths, for one. Shinigami, Kaguya. The Shinju Tree if nothing else. And canonwise, he is a demigod. He's Asura's transmigrant. He's also a Jinchuriki, and Uzumaki and a Sage. He's got power aplenty.

 **SkySage24, Popsiicles** \- **FAQ** **(-_-*)**

 **Tru3Ph03niX** \- ...seriously? That's how you decide good stories from bad ones. Hinata is cardboard-depth character. She has zero personality outside of Naruto, no world outside of him. Fuck Hinata Hyuga, Fuck the studio for ruining what could've been a wonderful romance, and Fuck me for still being so damn attached to this series despite how it disappointed me.

Also, though the way this story begins might not give you guys this impression, I'm firmly in the NaruSaku camp. Alas, sacrifices must be made ^^.

 **Nick Tanico** : Uh... eh?

 **narutoDkurosaki** ; Yea, unfortunately, I'm afflicted by a common fanfiction author affliction: too many ideas, which I finish in my head... writing down all of that then starts looking mighty troublesome for zit.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ~-~-~ ஜ۩۞۩ஜ ~-~-~ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

 **Anime Law #14 - Law of Inverse Lethal Magnitude** \- The destructive potential of any object/organism is inversely proportional to its mass.  
First Corollary - Small and cute will always overcome big and ugly. Also known as the A-Ko phenomenon.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ~-~-~ ஜ۩۞۩ஜ ~-~-~ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

 ** _The Silver Moon, The Heart of Fire_**

 **Chapter** **Two:** (άλφα) - A New Adventure

" _The secret of happiness is freedom.  
The secret of freedom is courage."_  
 _\- Thucydides_

~-~-~ ஜ۩۞۩ஜ ~-~-~

 _DRIP..._ _DRIP..._ _DRIP..._

Opening his eyes with a drowsy blink lead our blond haired hero to discover he was standing inside the flooded, dark and decrepit labyrinth that represented his mind.

Naruto looked around, seeing a number of broken pipes hanging from the ceiling overhead, most if not all of them covered in rust. His head angled downwards, where the water almost reached up to his knees, sloshing around seemingly with a life of its own. He raised his leg, grimacing when the weighty fluid stuck to his clothes like some sort of glue goo.

It was quite disturbing when you understood this whole mess was inside his head.

Naruto frowned as he finished inspecting the place (and lowered his foot) before scratching the back of his neck with a sigh.

"I really oughta do something about this place." he mumbled to empty air, "This is just depressing."

~-~-~ ஜ۩۞۩ஜ ~-~-~

 _DRIP..._ _DRIP..._ _DRIP..._

Naruto, his gait slowed substantially by the water's sludgyness, was making his way down the beaten path he once swore never to return to, the one that would lead him directly to the Nine Tails' chamber. Admittedly, that was before he managed to beat and befriend his resident tailed beast, even going so far as to convince him they were comrades. He'd thought the grumpy old fox was - had to be - hibernating; the reason he never brought up any of his worries about the erratic behavior of his chakra.

From Kurama's own words, the process of fusing itself together was going to be long and quite audacious and could have some negative effects on his own chakra. Loss of control, spikes of activity, the lot. His chakra being out of whack could simply be a side-effect of whatever the heck Kurama and Kurama were doing to tie themselves together again.

Then again, it might not be.

What's more, if his mind wasn't playing tricks on him (seeing how he was literally in his mind, this could go both ways) there were dozens of new, _leaking_ pipes, scattered across the passages and dark tunnels of his mind. In the past, back when he was still struggling to control his own chakra, let alone the Kyuubi's, he thought that the general state of disrepair of his mindscape represented his abysmal chakra control.

Seeing how his control was second to none nowadays, it was obvious how it wasn't so.

There was only one possible reason he could think of.

"Note to self, dad sucked at decor."

 _DRIP..._ _DRIP..._ _DRIP..._

Finally, after what seemed like a small eternity, Naruto trudged into the massive (and surprisingly dry) chamber playing host to Kurama... and Kurama.

This sight made the blond stop in his tracks, the question of _why_ were there still _two separate_ Kuramas where there should be only one, bigger Kurama taking front stage of his thought process. Confused and more than a little lost in the not-so-grand scheme of things, Naruto walked up to the closest muzzle and decided to nudge the beast awake.

An annoyed look crossed his face when the fox let out a loud snore. Only Kurama could have summoned him into his mind, since Naruto certainly didn't come here on his own. And now the furry bastard was ignoring him. This just wouldn't do, so Naruto decided to do what Naruto did best, be very loud and equally as annoying.

"Kurama! Why am I in here?!"

Snore.

"Kurama?! What do you want? Kurama!"

Still nothing.

"OLD FUZZY WHUZZY! GET UP OR I'M GOING TO RASENSHURIKEN YOUR FURRY ASS!"

The tailed beast's nine tails twitched behind it, stirring to life... and then it snored some more.

Chakra began to swirl around in Naruto's palm, his eyes twitching.

However, before the stressed shinobi could make good on his threat, the tailed beasts opened its left eye in a lethargic fashion, somewhat similar to how a Nara would act around mid-day. Naruto huffed in ire and crossed his arms across his chest as the slitted red and black pupil focused on him before glancing around the chamber. After a few moments of silence, Kurama's much-much-bigger-than-a-human teeth filled jaw opened, pulling back into a grin that could make grown shinobi run away scarred shitless.

" **Hello fleshbag,** " Any other human would have shivered in fright at the tone in the monster's voice, one that used to hold so much malice and hate. Probably still did.

Naruto merely glared as it started cleaning its ears with a pinkie, uncaring about the blond's temperament.

" **I would say it's nice to see you, but my ears are currently ringing, so I won't speak lies.** "

The blond snorted and let his arms fall to his sides, before swinging them back up behind his head.

"Yeah yeah, whatever." he rolled his eyes as he spun around, taking a better look at the chamber - and the two massive golden gates slammed into the walls, "Look, I'm kinda in the middle of something, so could you tell me what you want quickly so I can get back to it? Thanks."

Kurama raised an eyebrow at the blond's demeanor.

" **I want you to stop mopping to yourself like a little bitch.** "

Naruto's jaw dropped to the floor as the massive engine of destruction started stretching, looking very much like some oversized household cat. Just, y'know, if household cats held enough power to cause natural disasters by swishing around their tails. Or sneezing.

Ignoring his human's flabbergasted expression, the Kyuubi continued, " **So the pink haired monkey you've had the hots for mated with that curse-eyed little shitstain, boo-hoo. So what?** " it rumbled, a deep baritone that nearly shook the massive chamber, " **It was your fault for believing it would go any other way. I think it simply shows how stupid you can be. And now, you're running away from the issue like some sniveling coward. Pathetic.** " Kurama declared disdainfully, sitting up and looking down at the shocked blond with critical eyes.

"..."

The Nine Tails sighed, ruby eyes of molten coal softening as the beast stared down the hero of the shinobi world - a man who was still very much a little boy on the inside, " **You have to pull yourself together, this isn't like you. Or else whoever manipulated you will continue doing so in the future. I won't be pulling your ass out of the fire if you let yourself become so incompetent again. That's not Naruto I know.** "

"What?"

" **How else do you think you suddenly know how to force open Kaguya's portals, even with Yondaime's little scribble book. Somebody used a complex illusion to make you think you knew what you were doing. Heck, it's possible this entire fiasco is just one massive, complex illusion and the pink haired monkey never mated with the _Uchiha_. Fool.** "

Naruto looked away.

"No, it wasn't. You can't fake chakra like that. It was a perfect blend of Sakura and Sasuke's signatures. I can't believe she still loves that self-centered prick." his fists clenched as his gaze dropped to the floor, "I really thought Sakura would give me a chance, after all I did for her, y'know. Heh, guess I really am a fool." he chuckled as he looked back into his friend's eyes. "So, yeah. I'm a fool. Always been."

" **So when she didn't stay loyal, you ran?** " Kurama asked, incredulous. It never understood human ways of courting, thanks in part to being a massive chakra construct that had nothing to mate with. But from the little it knew, the males established dominance over their females and had their way with them, to pass on their traits.

Simple nature, nothing more, nothing less.

"..."

The great beast released a heavy, burdened sigh, the force of it almost blowing Naruto away.

Kurama could not believe it was really doing this.

What was it, a therapist now?

" **You need to get your shit together, Naruto.** "

The blond sent an annoyed look towards the fox who was stating the obvious.

"I'm not going back to Konoha." he declared firmly, causing the tailed beast to snort, "I really do mean it. I'm tired of constantly fighting - I've destroyed and dismantled 16 Akatsuki wanna-be groups in the last 5 months. Now, now I just want to find a nice, cozy land that's _not_ filled with prickly megalomaniacs who have too much time and power on their hands and not enough morals to guide them, and rest. Maybe I'll find someone else to love, maybe not. But I'm not returning to my village. It's in good hands."

" **I couldn't care less about that cesspool or the apes living in it. What I desire is for you to clean that mush between your ears you call a brain and get your head on straight… Seriously, you've fought my Progenitor, but you're running away after some failed courting? Fool.** "

Naruto shrugged, "Yea, I'm a fool. I can still kick your ass tho!"

Their conversation dissolved into a series of insults afterwards.

~-~-~ ஜ۩۞۩ஜ ~-~-~

When it came to personal luck Uzumaki Naruto's was a particularly shitty brand of it, and this time was no exception.

The blond haired demon container, feeling a bit woozy and lightheaded for some reason, felt something hard and pointy poking at his spine. It was mighty uncomfortable, which he expressed with a low groan.

 _Must have landed on a pebble or something._

The whiskered shinobi grumbled inwardly as he swung himself up into a sitting position, his body flowing into a stand with ninja-like grace and fluidity... and proceeded to stare dumbly at his surroundings like some sort of buffoon for the next several moments, almost stumbling from his spot in surprise.

Naruto dragged his hands across his face, pulling down his skin and stretching his fingers with a loud, burdened moan.

 _...fuck me._

He knew even before he resigned his headband and left his old life behind that the time-space portal was, naturally, going to be a bit unstable when he forced it open (Kaguya's chakra and his own did not mix in a healthy way apparently) but he wouldn't be lying when he said he expected to end up in a more decent-looking environment when he landed on the other side. Certainly not inside some monolithicaly large cave made out of obsidian rocks, with fireballs and lava geysers leaping into the air everywhere around him, with a smattering of dead trees scattered around the place haphazardly and some bubbly black liquid taking up an entire portion of the cave, with what looked like rib bones floating on the surface.

Cobblestone and granite lined the obsidian ground, weaving in between the various lava and fire fountains in a pattern that couldn't possibly be natural.

Naruto took a cautious sniff and immediately clamped his nose shut at the putrid, sulfuric smell permeating the air around him.

Checking and patting himself over to make sure he brought every piece of him along, Naruto nodded in satisfaction. Two hands, two legs, five fingers and toes on each, all seemed to be in order. Next he checked his ninja pouch for his equipment - he had one miniature scroll for flash-sealing work and a roll of tags, a sealing kit as well as some ninja wire. That would definitely come in handy, someway. It always did. However his weapons, mainly his kunai and shuriken were nowhere to be found.

At least he still had a spare cup of ramen!

Breathing deeply through his nose and keeping his gagging down to his stomach, Naruto searched around for a way out of this hell hole.

He couldn't see anything that resembled an exit.

The ground rumbled beneath the blond as he looked down in surprise... and managed to step back just as a jet of lava bisected the air he was previously occupying, shooting up almost all the way to the cave's ceiling.

He sweatdropped.

 _Gonna need to be careful, don't want to end up roasted. Again..._

His eyes turned back towards the cobblestone path. Weighing his options in his mind (stand there and risk being cooked, or follow it and risk being cooked) the retired Konoha shinobi shrugged.

And a new adventure began...

~-~-~ END CHAPTER ~-~-~


End file.
